High Speed Internet Access

I've been using a high-speed dial-up service for about 3 months. The difference has really been noticeable. It's a propel product that's used by a number of ISP's. It was definitely worth the small increase in cost (an extra $5/month/Canadian). The only problem I ran into, is that Internet Explorer in combo with my aging computer was having trouble keeping up. The problems with graphics not arriving quickly enough cleared up when I went to the Firefox browser.

It's not as fast as DSL at work, but it's as fast as my neighbour's cable service (that they pay nearly 4x as much for, as I do for my service).

Satellite access is supposed to be very fast, reliable, but expensive starting costs.

For those without access to conventional broadband, satellite offers a solution, though there are drawbacks. I have some years of experience, both as a former user of a few different consumer varieties of the critter, and as an authorized dealer and installer for both consumer and commercial satellite internet systems of various brands. My personal opinion is that if nothin' else is there, it'll do, but it ain't great.

Latency - the time it takes data packets to make the earth-to-satellite-back-to-earth round trip of nearly 45,000 miles, and packet compression and splitting, can render things like real-time gameplay, video and/or audio streaming, webcam chat, website hosting, P2P filesharing, FTP transfer, IRC, and VOIP anywhere from unsatisfying through impractical to downright unuseable.

Satellite internet speeds depend as well on the overall user load on the individual transponders (the radios on the satellites) load; the more users on a given transponder, the less overall bandwidth there is available to each. Heavy rain or snow will negatively impact satellite internet performance as well. Equipment costs and subscription prices are relatively high, compared to other internet access methods. Another consideration often overlooked by satellite internet subscribbers is the "AUP", or "FAP" - "Acceptable Use Policy" and "Fair Access Policy" - some subscribers find their usage patterns either constitute practice not allowed or involve "excessive bandwidth use" - either of which will entail consequences for the affected subscriber.

I'd advise checking with the telephone companies that serve your area, and the cable providers, to see what if any roll-out plans they have for your immediate neighborhood. You might not want to make the investment in satellite equipment, and commit to the contract terms- usually a minimum of 1 year - if other options will be available to you in the foreseeable future.

One option you might want to explore is multiple modem, or "shotgun", connectivity; if supported by your ISP. it is possible to connect using more than one modem, effectively increasing your available bandwidth by the number of simultaneous modems in use. The method calls for additional hardware (though Windows has the necessary software built in), additional phone lines, and higher subscription cost, and it must be supported by your ISP, not all of which accommodate the protocol.

Another technology that is gaining ground in rural locations is "Fixed Wireless", a system which connects users with special radio transceiver modems to a central distribution antenna - where available, the service is very reliable and does not suffer the latency, packet compression and packet splitting, and bandwidth usage restriction problems inherent to satellite internet. Yet another emerging technology, which should see tremendous growth over the next couple years is brodband-over-powerline, a system by which the internet connection is carried over the public electrical grid - your electric utility might be able to provide you with info regarding their plans, if any, for this.

Finally, the technology behind Digital Television offers some indication of affording yet another means of internect connectivity, and there is ongoing research and development in the field of various airborne radio relay systems, which use balloons or relays of long-flight-duration, very-high-altitude next-generation heavier-than-air craft, respectively fixed or orbiting several miles in the stratosphere over a particular location, though those schemes are a ways off yet.

If nothing else seems likely to work out over an acceptable time frame for you, then go ahead and take a closer look at satellite internet. Just be aware of its limitations and drawbacks. A lot of folks go into it not knowing ehat to expect, and find themselves disappointed. That's pretty much their own fault; the info is all there if you take the time amd make the effort to get it.

A final caveat re "Dial-up Accellerators" - data transfer can and will occur no faster than the slowest rate in the data transfer chain. If your connection is 1.5Mb broadband, but the servier delivering data to your machine is capable only of dialup speed, you're gonna draw data at dialup speed, and conversely, if the server from which you are drawing data is capable of direct optical connection to the internet backbone speed but your home connection maxes out at dialup speed, whatever that might be on your end, its your end that determines how fast data transfers to you. Some folks find that dialup accellerators seem to work for them, and if it works for them, it works for them. Such applications can in fact interfere with connectivity and/or browser performance and stability, introducing unwanted artifacts and side effects peculiar to themselves. The truth and fact of the matter is that the laws of physics as pertaining to the electromagnetic and/or photo-optical transfer of data are immutable; the end user is gonna get nothin' any faster than is accommodated by the slowest link in the chain, no matter where in the chain that link is. If the best your phoneline can provide you is 18 or 20 or 40 kbps, or whatever, that's all you're gonna get from that phoneline, period, no matter what you do or how it seems to you.

The only means by which to draw more data - more "1"s and "0"s - from the pipeline in less time is either to use a bigger pipe or more pipes of the same size as the one you've already got. That may not be fair, you may not like the idea, but its physics.

In my experience, 'Accelerated Dial-up' usually only affects browsing speed.

The software usually diverts your request to a proxy server, the proxy server then usually has a database of web sites. It searches the database for your request, if it finds it, you receive an immediate compressed version of the site from the proxy. If the query fails or the website you requested can not be found, the proxy loads the website, compresses it, and then send it to you.

This increases browsing speed, because most websites have graphics and graphics can be compressed. Sometimes you may experience severe degradation in a graphic or you may receive a thumbnail but decent quality.

This compression doesn't generally affect data transfer like download and upload because most data transfers over the internet are compressed already... like in ZIP or another format.

So, in answer to your question, 'Accelerated Dial-up' will not provide any benefit in online gaming... wait for DSL or cable if possible or go with satelite... afterall, satelite is better than nothing.